Miller golden in world opener

U.S. skier wins super-G despite flawed race

BORMIO, Italy — Members of an Austrian fan club who clearly got an early start on happy hour were chanting Bode Miller's name as he left the Bormio ski stadium Saturday.

Miller gets that sort of acclaim routinely in Europe, where the U.S. skier is a hero even when he finishes ahead of all the Austrians, as he did in the super-giant slalom that opened the 2005 World Alpine Championships.

That means Miller has the best of both worlds.

By not being an Austrian--or a skier from another country where, unlike the United States, the sport is followed closely--Miller generally escapes the scrutiny his freewheeling lifestyle would attract. Were he a European racer, every subpar performance would be seen as an affront to national pride and lead the local media to note he also relishes Miller time.

Former French downhill star Luc Alphand, who faced similar criticism, thinks such characterizations of Miller are unfair, just as they were for noted Italian ski champion and reputed playboy Alberto Tomba.

"Life is short," Alphand said. "You have to enjoy it, enjoy what you are doing. [Miller] is able to ski fast with some little partying. . . . But he's not partying every day. He is training a lot.

"It is like Tomba. Everyone said he's out in the disco, but he was working also."

Miller's approach to life clearly works in a sport where some degree of recklessness is mandatory.

"I know myself better than to think I can ski without making mistakes," Miller said.

Despite a month in which he has failed to finish five of nine World Cup races, Miller still leads the overall standings by 95 points. Despite a big mistake in Saturday's race, he still beat Austria's Michael Walchhofer by 14 one-hundredths of a second and U.S. teammate Benjamin Raich by 68 one-hundredths.

"I've never seen Bode as disappointed with himself as he was over the past few races," said Phil McNichol, the U.S. men's head coach. "I knew he would be really fired up. The bigger the challenge, the bigger the effort. This reaffirms he is clearly better than most, if not better than all."

Austria's Hermann Maier, the greatest super-G skier in history, was fourth. Daron Rahlves of the U.S., the 2001 world super-G champion, was 10th.

"Bode can make mistakes and gain time back afterward," Alphand said. "He has this magic."

Miller lost time Saturday by coming off the biggest jump on the course in what he described as "the wrong way." Figuring a course correction on the fly would cost him more time, Miller chose to try to recover later.

"When I came across the finish, I thought I would be lucky to have a medal," he said.

Instead, Miller won his third world-championship gold, most ever by a U.S. skier, for what that is worth. After all, the 27-year-old from New Hampshire lost one of his two gold medals from the 2003 worlds and used one to hold up the toilet seat at the Austrian house he used to rent.

"I don't know where it went after that," Miller said.

Miller should win at least one more gold medal, in Thursday's combined. With his new skills as a downhill racer and his old skills as a slalom skier, he seemingly needs only to stand up three times to take the combined, a downhill lite followed by two slalom lites.

"You will never get Bode to do anything like that, especially since both times he coasted [in slalom] this season, he straddled a gate," McNichol said.

He actually is a medal contender in all five individual races and the new team event. Were Miller to win multiple medals with the Winter Olympics only a year away, he almost certainly will be asked, much to his chagrin, to become the cover for the Olympic preview issues of all the major U.S. newsweeklies and maybe All About Beer magazine. Miller already has lamented the demands a lesser degree of fame has put on him.

"I don't know if I'm ready for it, but it's going to happen more than likely, even if I don't win a bunch of medals here," he said. "It's going to be a matter of doing what we have been prioritizing and turning stuff down."

Miller's priority always has been more the quality of his skiing than the results but he still appreciated Saturday's victory.

"Being world champion is a big thing, and I would like to have as many medals here as events," he said.

"But I'm going to ski hard and aggressive, and it's easy to make mistakes."